Free Web NovelChapter 771: Chapter 742: Gage Grant vs. Maeve [004]
In the Weibo group, fans were all looking forward to her concert tour in the second half of the year. These fans had been with her for years, waiting for her concert for years, but she couldn’t even secure any sponsorships.
She wasn’t famous enough, not as popular as the trendy singers. Others had tens of millions of followers on Weibo, while she had less than a million, with no ads or endorsements, just a few shabby albums and a supporting role in a flop movie. Only a fool would sponsor her.
But fans believed she had talent, that her songs were good, that her concert tickets could sell out based on word of mouth alone, so sponsors should recognize her worth and definitely sponsor her.
This is what those outside the industry don’t understand about its rules.
In this industry, talent alone is far from enough. Just like last night, she was so eager to get sponsorship that she lost her head for a moment and went to drink with the old chairman of Kingsbridge Properties, and that old man actually gave her a room key, almost making her sick to death.
She refused, and the other party viciously mocked her: "If you don’t entertain our Chairman Crowley, then forget about sponsorship! It’s never going to happen! You should recognize your status!"
She was infuriated, went home, and couldn’t sleep the whole night. In the middle of the night, she got up intending to write some songs, but found that the vulgar thoughts in her head drained all her creative passion.
If she couldn’t write songs, what else could she do?
She had neither the appeal of a trendy star nor decent resources. For years, she had struggled to carve out a niche through persistent originality. Her rival, who debuted around the same time, Candice Chase, relied on songs that were claimed to be original but were actually bought, and now stood on the stage of The Worker’s Stadium, while she was still facing the possibility of disappointing fans who had waited for years due to the lack of sponsorship.
Maeve found herself in an unprecedented low and self-doubt.
She was thirty-one this year, and in a few more years, she’d be older, not knowing if she’d still have the energy for a concert tour.
Upon examining herself and her environment, if she didn’t entertain old men, she’d definitely have no resources. Even if she did, she might still not get any resources, and could even be backstabbed by some unscrupulous person, ruining the reputation she had built over the years.
Her career seemed to have hit a dead end.
Maeve was in despair and posted a crying emoji in the Weibo group.
The fans who were chatting merrily exploded:
"Maeve is here!"
"Goddess! Look at me!"
"Maeve, when will the concert tickets go on sale? I want to set an alarm to grab a ticket first thing!"
"Goddess, I love you!"
"Maeve, will there be new songs at this concert?"
"Who will be the guest at the concert?"
...
In the end, all the fans’ questions revolved around the concert. They had been waiting for too many years.
Maeve’s nose tingled, her eyes reddened, and everything before her became hazy.
Her love for music was as strong as her anticipation for a tour. But she was increasingly aware that this might be difficult to achieve.
Holding back her tears, she typed a sentence in the chat box: "The concert probably won’t happen, sorry to disappoint you all."
After pressing enter, she immediately closed the laptop.
Tears burst forth.
...
Maeve hid at home for three days, not answering calls, not replying to messages, unable to write songs, just lying in bed in a daze. When tired, she’d sleep; upon waking, she’d continue to daze.
Ten years ago, carrying a guitar, she came from her hometown to Jadeston, living in a small room with a monthly rent of two thousand, writing songs tirelessly, making a living by writing music for some famous singers, and waiting for a chance to emerge.
Ten years have passed, and aside from the house she now still has a mortgage on and hundreds of songs that she holds the rights to, but are worth nothing, she has nothing else.
In contrast, she has aged, her health has declined, her skin has worsened, even her once clear eyes have gradually yellowed.
In this country’s most prosperous city, she exchanged ten years of youth for this void.
What is the meaning of it all?
"Bang, bang, bang!" A series of dull thuds came from outside the living room, someone was angrily pounding on her front door.
On the other hand, the phone thrown on the floor received a call from her agent.
Initially, she didn’t want to answer or open the door. About ten minutes later, a call came from a neighbor.
It was likely that her agent’s loud knocking disrupted the neighbor, and they called to complain.
Maeve had no choice but to slowly get up, dragging her even thinner body from not eating for three days to the living room, opened the front door, and then immediately returned to the sofa to lie down.
The agent rushed in, closed the door, and shouted, "Maeve! Something big has happened!"
Maeve closed her eyes, ignoring him.
The agent ran to her side, sat down next to her, took a tablet out of the bag, and swiped a few times, shoving it in front of her: "Look! A new wealthy fan rewarded you with over fifteen million!"
Maeve, not sure if she heard clearly, pushed the tablet away and turned over, ignoring it. Several seconds later, she suddenly sat up in shock, grabbed the tablet from the agent.
On the Weibo reward page’s withdrawable amount section, a long string of numbers was displayed. She squinted and counted twice, fifteen million two hundred thousand!
"Who is this fan?" she asked in shock, staring at the numbers, "Why did they give me so much money?"
"It’s a newly opened account from two days ago, only following you, no posts," the agent said dejectedly, "I pulled some strings, asked someone from Weibo to check, found the phone number linked to the account, and when I called it, it was unreachable."
Truly a strange thing.
For someone who spent so much money on rewards, at least they’d want to be acknowledged.
Maeve frowned in thought for a moment: "Contact Weibo and return the money through the original channel; we can’t accept it."
The agent exclaimed, "Why? With this money, you could have the tour!"
Maeve shouted, "Would you really dare to use money from an unknown source?"
The agent was about to argue but seeing her anger, pursed his lips: "Okay, okay, I get it. Don’t be upset."
Maeve’s face turned red with anger as she slammed the door shut and hid in her room.
After a while, the agent carefully opened the door, stood at the entrance, and whispered, "There’s a notice for tomorrow afternoon, I’ll pick you up at one, remember."
Maeve didn’t respond, pulled the blanket over her head.
The agent touched his nose, took the tablet, and left. As the door closed, he muttered, "With that temper, no wonder she can’t hit it big!"
That night, a news headline "Wealthy fan rewards singer Maeve with fifteen million two hundred thousand" topped the trending list, but it was soon taken down, so much so that Maeve herself was unaware she had hit number one.
Even though she doubted the true intention behind the reward, she couldn’t deny that this fan’s action did lift her spirit, downcast for days.
She decided to pull herself together, giving herself another two years.
During these two years, she would write songs more seriously than she had in the past eight years, attend all the notices, and seize every opportunity for self-promotion!
She’d give it one last shot, and if it didn’t work out, she’d announce her departure from the circle on her ten-year anniversary!
